Susanna Edwards speak to Angharad Lewis, head of visual communication at Cass School. She used to write for Grafik magazine.
In the magazine the editorial and design were done by different people, but they had to work closely together.
She talked about the importance of making sure you think about context and audience. Your publication needs to reflect an audience and appeal to them.
Your structure is influenced by the content itself, which makes me think that writing my article needs to happen before I decide on how I want it to be designed or produced.
She believes that drafting written work is important, as sometimes once you’ve written it you can see it needs to be swapped around to work better.
The writing needs a point or cresendo at the end. All writing should have some kind of story and needs a beginning, middle and end to give it a sense of impact on the reader.
Tone of voice is important, but when it comes to developing a personal tone of voice, it evolves over time with the more writing that you do. It is also important to be concise to keep readers interested. These are all things I will take into account when writing my article this week, making sure I re-read it multiple times to ensure it is concise, impactful and using an appropriate tone of voice.
Lewis makes the point that due to the surge in online articles, printed material has to be more special now. People buy a magazine now like they would buy a book. They have become something valuable that will be read again and again and stored on your bookshelf. This needs to be kept in mind while writing I think. Digital work will be consumed quickly, but print has to last.
In her book, Angharad Lewis says that you have to justify your presence in the world of print nowadays.
“The appetite of print consumers is tending towards the unique, beautiful content that deserves to be treasured”
Angharad Lewis
She goes on to say that in order to publish a successful magazine, you have to have a unique idea, an audience who will be interested and your voice must be original.
Different and innovative print techniques
Looking at Artomatic’s work I was really interested in how they create packaging that is so much more than just packaging. It turns the object into an experience rather than just a packet. This made me think about something I had found in my research around period poverty.
The Female Company’s “Tampon Book” was a way of packing tampons inside a book to get around Germany’s 19% tampon tax, as books are only taxed at 7%. This is a book, packaging and also something striving for social change. I think this is an incredibly elegant design idea.
https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2018/creativity-for-good/26521/bloodnormal/
This advert from Bodyform that was the first to show period blood is a revolutionary step.
Extra Research
I decided to take my idea about Period Poverty in Bristol as the one I will turn into my essay this week.
I wanted to collect some of my own research on the topic of period poverty and stigma. Gaining personal interviews with people who have suffered with period poverty in Bristol was very unlikely and would have to be approached very carefully and not rushed. Therefore I decided not to try and do this in a short project as it may be more damaging that useful. Instead I set up a short survey that I sent to women I know to fill in and share, so I could gain an insight into other peoples experience of menstruation. I hoped to use this within my essay to reinforce my opinions and back up data I have found from other sources.
Workshop Challenge
Before writing my first draft I wanted to ensure I was sure of who it was aimed at, how I was going to write it, my tone of voice etc to make sure I was taking Angharad Lewis’s advice into account.
Title Ideas
Why does Bristol have so much period poverty?
Dinner or Dignity?
We need to talk about periods.
Secretly bleeding
Updated Blurb
Period poverty is an issue faced by people who menstruate across the world, surprisingly even in high income countries. Over 40% of people who menstruate in Bristol experience period poverty. Shame and stigma still surround periods and no-one wants to talk about it. People feel embarrassed by the natural state of their bodies and forced to keep silent about it. Periods are sterilised in media portrayals and until recently classed as a ‘luxury’ by the government. It is this silent agreement to stigmatise periods that has allowed the problem of period poverty to continue unnoticed for so long. No one should have to choose between food or period products.
What is my story?
I am shining a light on the hidden side of periods, they affect us all really and 50% of the population directly. The silence around periods and period poverty means people really don’t know the issues. I want to help break this silence.
Approach from perspective of Bristol– the issues that affect people here and what the city is beginning to do about it? Homeless, transgender, low income, refugees and asylum seekers, cultural
Initial Plan of Structure
Introduction
– why this is something we should all relate to and care about.
What is classed as period poverty and who does it affect.
– Low income
– Refugees/ asylum seekers
– Homeless
– Transgender
– Cultural
– Look at some case studies
What negative affects come alongside it.
– Missing school
– not playing sport
– being stuck at home
– Infection – FGM
– damaging to mental health
Other issues related to period poverty.
– luxury items tax
– Self regulation of period brands – what is in their products
– androcentrism
– giving out condoms not period products
– lack of knowledge women have around their bodies causing other issues
Media Portrayal of women and periods.
– sterilisation of marketing and media portrayal of periods
– Issues around portrayal of women in the media in general – hairless, thin, white, beautiful
– Artists pushing back against this
Why is not much being done?
– Shame and stigma
– Lack of education
– Androcentrism – invisible women
– Lack of thought or understanding of issue
– deep rooted societal issue
What needs to change and what is Bristol Doing
– Employers
– Schools
– One City plan
Conclusion
Myth busting section at end?
Aim – I want to show the issues surrounding period poverty in a passionate, yet calculated way. I want the data to be clear to the reader and I want them to be educated by the article and come away with new information. I want the reader to finish the article feeling inspired to break the cultural taboos and stigma surrounding periods in some way, be that a conversation with their young child, a more open conversation among friends or a partner, or maybe even starting to campaign for change on a larger scale.
Audience – It is likely that my article will appeal more to women than men, and more to the younger generation. That being said I don’t want to alienate anyone from the text as it is a universal issue and the more welcoming my article is to everyone, the more successful it will be in achieving its aim.
Tone of voice – Candid, open and welcoming. I am writing about the issue of suppression and therefore need to be bold in my tone of voice. I am campaigning for change, joining a sort of revolution so my tone of voice can reflect that. (Look at visual culture writing post war)
Pace – In line with the tone of voice, I want my article to be quite fast paced, but still allow the reader to take it all in and digest the information. I will include illustrations and I may need to include some infographics. This will break up the text and also ensure the reader understands what’s going on.
Language – periods don’t just affect girls or women so I will use the term ‘people who menstruate’. I think the terms ‘sanitary’ or ‘feminine hygiene’ are misleading and encouraging unhelpful stereotypes so I will use the terms period products, tampons or pads.
First Draft
My written first draft of essay. I started off writing to my plan, but found I was covering later sections earlier in the essay as they related to what I was talking about at the time. I decided to let the structure flow freely and only use my plan as a basis to ensure I covered all the points I wanted to make. I think making the plan beforehand really structured my thoughts and let me write large chunks of the essay uninterrupted as I knew what I had to cover.
After each few paragraphs or when I felt I was lacking concentration, I read back over the previous sections and made changes to the sentences to make it smoother to read through and in keeping with my desired tone of voice.
I plan to still revisit this and make more changes but think I have written enough to start considering my moodboard and how I will produce this article.
Moodboard and production ideas
My initial ideas about design, materials, format, typography and production.
http://www.ripostemagazine.com/homepage I like the bold yet beautiful way important issues are portrayed in Riposte Magazine. It is a ‘Women’s magazine, but doesn’t have glossy photoshopped women throughout telling you to buy products to make yourself more beautiful. It discusses real and raw issues with bold photography of real women with real stories to tell.
I definitely want my article to be something similar, its not whitewashed, but a real issue that demands real respect.
https://www.stackmagazines.com/women/insider-girls-club/
Girls club – Based in London, Girls Club is a zine about what it’s like to be a 20-something girl today. I like this idea as it can be a sort of homemade collaborative project.
I am also inspired by empowering and inclusive illustration and photography. Gemma Correll creates brilliant illustrations that show the realties of periods.
I love the idea of the tampon book I mentioned previously, combining packaging with a story and political change. I want to ensure my design is pushing for change. Art and design has often been used to challenge preconceptions and push boundaries, often making people uncomfortable in the process.
I’ve collected some images and illustrations for my moodboard that I feel show the visual identity I want to create. I think it would work well if I develop a style to be continued throughout – I may also create some simple infographics to show some of the statistics in an easy to grasp visual format alongside the text.
I want to experiment with how I can use the colour red in my design, I don’t want to shy away from it but I also don’t want my work to look graphic or vulgar. I will try using drops of red paint or ink, maybe some red string or wool decorating or sewing through the page.
I like the idea of commissioning women to create artwork for it in some way? – Maybe I could sell some limited edition artworks that empower women alongside the article with the money going to a period charity? Maybe even use women who have experienced period poverty to create the artwork.
Ive looked back at Femme packaging that I explored a little last module. I like the simple branding and culturally sensitive branding. Maybe I could look into creating a range of plastic free period product packaging that shares my article in some way?
Reflection
This week I decided to really utilise my research on writing methods to plan my essay in advance, which is unlike how Ive written in the past. I planned out a structure, aim, target audience and tone of voice to ensure I knew exactly how and what I wanted to write about before I started. This meant the process of writing the article went much smoother than I had anticipated. I also made sure to regally review my writing as I was going through to ensure I was sticking to my plan and tone of voice etc.
I think the subject I chose can be quite broad, and in my research I kept coming across more information I wanted to include. However, I didn’t want my essay to be rushed and confusing so had to limit what I included. I think issues like this are so interlinked with other issues, it creates a lovely opportunity for further essays linked together, maybe in the form of a magazine or book.
Writing and proofing my essay has allowed me to feel more invested in the subject matter and build a rough visual picture of how I want the essay to look once designed into a product of some kind.
Lizzie Wa Design 
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